Overthinkers often don't realize it but psychology says the way they experience happiness is fundamentally different from most people - they can't feel joy without immediately calculating how and when they'll lose it - Silicon Canals

"Dampening refers to the tendency to respond to positive mood states with mental strategies that diminish how much the positive emotion is felt and how long it lasts."

"Where savoring extends and deepens a positive experience, dampening contracts and shortens it. Overthinkers and those high in rumination tend toward dampening, often without deciding to."

Most people enjoy positive experiences without overthinking. In contrast, chronic overthinkers engage in a secondary process that diminishes their joy. This cognitive pattern, known as dampening, involves automatic mental strategies that reduce the intensity and duration of positive emotions. Research indicates that while savoring enhances positive experiences, overthinkers instinctively dampen them. This automatic response leads to a cycle of anxiety about the fleeting nature of happiness, preventing full enjoyment of positive moments.

Read at Silicon Canals